François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard and Maurice Pialat, three of the great filmmakers in the history of French, European and world cinema, will have their place in the very complete offer from #15FestivalSevilla. It will be in the Tour/Détour section, which this year has an exceptional programmer: the president of Unifrance Serge Toubiana was given carte blanche by the festival to recover three eternal classics which will bring the creative universe of three geniuses of cinema to the Seville public.
A writer and critic, a true intellectual reference, Toubiana is also one of the greatest experts on the cinema of François Truffaut, with whom he coincided in the times when the future filmmaker worked as a critic on 'Cahiers du Cinéma' (a magazine which Toubiana would end editing, he also ended up being director of the Cinémathèque Française). He co-wrote with Antoine de Baecque a biography (published in Spain by Plot) of the director of 'Les 400 Coups', and he participated in the script of the documentary 'Hitchcock/Truffaut'.
"I learned about cinema working on 'Cahiers du Cinéma'. I learned to love cinema as it was transmitted to me by Truffaut, Vadim, Rivette, Godard, Pialat… I learned to love auteurist cinema", Toubiana said in a recent interview. His choice for Tour/Détour confirms that: 'La peau douce' (1964), 'Masculin, fémenin' (1966) and 'Nous ne vieillirons pas ensemble' (1972).
In 'La peau douce', which he shot before his American adventure with 'Fahrenheit 451', Truffaut told of a turbid, tormented illicit affair between a middle aged writer, married and the father of a little girl, and a flight attendant much younger than him. A love triangle bound to end in drama. Another key title that contributed to Toubiana’s love of cinema is 'Masculin, Fémenin' (1966), by Jean-Luc Godard. "It was the film that enabled me to understand the modern world”, our man explained in his memories, 'Les Fantômes du souvenir'. A sociological portrait of French youth in the mid-60s, the children of Marx and Coca-Cola, the film marked a turning point in Godard’s career after his 'Pierrot le Fou' (1964). The #15FestivalSevilla will show another of Toubiana’s favourite titles, 'Nous ne vieillirons pas ensemble' (1972), which shows the deterioration of a sentimental relationship, with its ups and downs, its arguments and its reconciliations, told by Maurice Pialat, in what was the French filmmaker and painter’s second feature.
Truffaut, Godard, Pialat, three fundamental names in the history of the seventh art; three names who infected Toubiana with the love of cinema, three names who will do the same for all those who come to the cinemas and enjoy the sessions of Tour/Détour.
